The recent direction by the HRD department to make December 25, as Good governance day in CBSE and other central government run schools is communally motivated. December 25 is celebrated as Christmas across India and the move to keep schools open that day is a clear tactic to create communal divisions. The attempt of HRD Minister Smriti Irani to lie to the public is also highly condemnable. Though she has stated that "only a voluntary online essay competition which did not require students to go to school" is to be organized, the circular issued by her Ministry has directed the schools to "ensure active participation of students" .The circular also requires the schools to provide the Ministry with compliance reports. The Central Committee of SFI condemns the reprehensible tactic of the BJP to use educational institutions to create communal polarization and also demands the apology of the HRD Minister for prevaricating to the people and for parading pure lies as press statements.
SFI salutes Professor Bipan Chandra, eminent historian and prolific writer who passed away earlier today. Professor Chandra was a historian of the masses. His writings are a real treasure of secular history. His contributions to the efforts to decommunalise people’s history are invaluable.
Considered a specialist in the economic and political history of modern India, Chandra authored several books including The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism, In the Name of Democracy: The JP Movement and the Emergency, Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India and The Making of Modern India: From Marx to Gandhi. He had founded the journal 'Enquiry' and was a member of its editorial board for a long time. He also served as the Chairman of the National Book Trust.
With Professor Bipan Chandra’s demise, India has lost an outstanding historian, a generous teacher, a passionate researcher and a powerful voice in the struggle for safeguarding democracy and secularism. At the current juncture when the Hindutva right wing is yet again on offensive, his works will be inseparable part of the arsenal of struggle against communalism.